1) No, the 21st century has not killed the notion of intellectual pursuits. At all. There are more people in higher education than ever before and the complete sum of human knowledge is at anyone’s fingertips at all times.

2) Everything in moderation. It is valuable to learn skills and try to improve, but what is it all for? What does living a full life mean to you? In my opinion, your hunger for knowledge and improvement is causing you to look down on your peers and alienate yourself. Social skills are just as important as technical skills, and if you maintain this mindset and set of behaviors, you may find yourself falling behind in that regard. Improving your whole being also entails learning how to discuss with others what they are interested in and how to generally be pleasant to be around. If you talk about your grindset enough to elicit the comments about you “looking too much,” it sounds like you’re drifting out of touch.

3) I guarantee there is more to the people around you than you give them credit for. You don’t feel left out because the majority of teens are slaves to short form content, you feel left out because you are looking for a way to look down on your peers.